One Hit Wonder: Ram Jam (1977)

Black Betty

Single: Ram Jam

Album: Ram Jam

B-side: I Should Have Known

Released: June 1977

Genre: Hard rock/blues. rock

Songwriter: Traditional, Huddie Ledbetter

Ram Jam was a short-lived band from New York City. "Black Betty" was their only hit. The song is standard folk/blues material about a black woman from Alabama with a "wild" child. 

A powerful beat and aggressive tempo drive Ram Jam's version. It's played at sporting events to pump up the crowd. 

Black Betty of the song was a woman, 

possibly also a prison whip,
and may later have become the prison wagon.
The BS Historian

Lead Belly

Steve Roud, a retired librarian in London, created an index of folk songs worldwide. They're cataloged by number, noting the singer, publisher, or recorded source.

Hosted on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, the database now contains over 240,000 entries. The song "Black Betty" is Roud 11668. Huddie Ledbetter, better known as Leadbelly, is the artist credited. He recorded many traditional folk songs, including "Goodnight Irene" and "Midnight Special." Laborers sing Leadbelly's a cappella version of "Black Betty" to pass the time while working.

Ram Jam

The Cincinnati band Starstruck released a hard-driving version of "Black Betty" on the Truckstar label. Bill Barlett, the former lead guitarist of the Lemon Pipers ("Green Tambourine"), was a group member at the time. He later formed Ram Jam. In 1977, Ram Jam released a re-edited recording of Starstruck's version of the song. Jerry Kasenetz and Jeffry Katz produced it. Architects of the Bubble Gum Sound, their former clients included The Ohio Express ("Yummy Yummy Yummy") and the 1910 Fruitgum Company ("Simon Says").

Ram Jam

The civil rights groups N.A.A.C.P. and C.O.R.E. called for a boycott of Ram Jam's song, claiming it insulted black women. Despite the controversy, the song reached number 18 on Billboard's pop chart. In the early '90s, the producers remixed "Black Betty." It was an international hit.

In 2006, the University of New Hampshire banned Ram Jam's "Black Betty" at UNH hockey games. Students launched a "Save Black Betty" campaign. They sang "Black Betty" at the games and wore T-shirts with "Save Black Betty" on the front and "Bam-A-Lam" on the back. After seven years, the Ram Jam version played at a UNH–UMaine hockey game on January 24, 2013.

Spiderbait

Australian alternative rock band Spiderbait released a version of "Black Betty" in 2004. It reached number 1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association Charts. It also hit number 32 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart. 

Spiderbait

Spiderbait's "Black Betty" was used in the films Without a Paddle (2004), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Guess Who (2005), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), The Condemned (2007), Death Race 2 (2011), The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017), and Birds of Prey (2020). It was also used in Malcolm in the Middle, My Name Is Earl episodes, and the games Need for Speed: Underground 2 and Gran Turismo 6.